Energy Minister to be summoned to Parliament over power crisis

Ranking Member on the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament John Abdulai Jinapor has said he has officially written to the Chairman of the Committee to have the Energy Minister summoned.

If approved, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh will face the Committee over the recent power crisis that has hit the country.

Speaking on First Take on 3FM on Tuesday, April 13, Mr Jinapor said Ghanaians are reeling from the crisis in the energy sector but the government is trying hard to justify this.

He said what is currently happening is nothing but ‘Dumsor’ and a timetable is needed as soon as possible.

Earlier, the Yapei-Kusawgu Member of Parliament (MP) had issued a statement, calling on government to come clean on the power crisis.

The former Deputy Power Minister said all the inroads made by the Mahama-led administration has been dissipated by the Akufo-Addo-led administration within four years.

“It will be recalled that when the nation was faced with a similar challenge under the NDC, the Mahama government was candid with Ghanaians and proceeded to implement pragmatic policies to comprehensively address the challenge and subsequently handed over a resilient and robust energy sector to President Akufo-Addo,” he stated.

He noted that a total of GH¢230 million was bequeathed to the current government by Mr Mahama in 2017 when he left office, under the ESLA Fund.

He called on government to stop the blame game and rather come clean on the crisis, which he blamed on finance and not technical.

“Shifting blame and providing conflicting information only goes to exacerbate the crisis which is threatening lives and businesses across the country,” he concluded.